WasteLAnd is run by a team of artists that you will also find performing and composing the music we present.
mattie barbier – Rachel Beetz – Nicholas Deyoe – Dustin Donahue – M A Harms – Michael Matsuno – Todd Moellenberg
mattie barbier (CIM-BM/CalArts- MFA) is an LA based trombonist and composer focused primarily in the fields of experimental intonation, noise, and the physical processes of their instrument. Working collaboratively with composers such as Wolfgang von Schweinitz, Ulrich Krieger and Marc Sabat, he eagerly engages with the emerging field of just intonation for brass instruments. Their work with Wolfgang von Schweinitz has been highlighted by widely performing JUZ, Wolfgang’s expansive work for solo trombone and playback. A work that had previously been abandoned due to the extreme multiphonic demands, but revived in a collaborative effort between mattie and Wolfgang. mattie is a founding member of gnarwhallaby, a Los Angeles based mixed quartet formed to revive the repertoire of Poland’s Warsztat Muzyczny, and Trio Kobayashi, an ensemble founded formed to perform the music of Wolfgang von Schweinitz. They also performs as a member of wildUp! and the Industry LA. mattie has recorded works for release of Populist, Mode and Innova Records. Their trombone teachers include Rick Stout, Jim Miller, Alex Iles and Dick Erb. They studied composition with Ulrich Krieger and Wolfgang von Schweinitz.
Rachel Beetz is a Los Angeles based flutist whose playing has been described as both “soulfully elegant” (Washington Post) and evoking the “roar of prehistoric animals” (San Diego Union Tribune). She is passionate about contemporary music and collaboration in making new work and has been invited to play with ensembles who share this mission such as the Callithumpian Consort, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Noise, Palimpsest, red fish blue fish, Southland Ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, and has been featured in festivals across the globe. She is half of both Plus/Minus with percussionist Dustin Donahue and Autoduplicity, a project with cellist Jennifer Bewerse. Rachel also frequently works with composers in the creation of new solo and chamber pieces; she has given premieres by Nicholas Deyoe, Edward Hamel, Kurt Isaacson, Brian Griffeath-Loeb, Celeste Oram, Michael Pisaro, Roger Reynolds, Scott Worthington, and Yiheng Yvonne Wu, to name a few. You can hear her performances on Blue Griffin, IIKKI, Neuma, and Populist record labels. As a composer, she makes sound pieces involving acute realizations of graphic materials. Her sound work has been exhibited in the US, Iceland, Australia, and India. Rachel is adjunct instructor at Moorpark College and also at the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP) at New England Conservatory. She holds performance degrees from University of California, San Diego (DMA and MA) and Indiana University (BM).
Nicholas Deyoe
Nicholas Deyoe is a composer, conductor, and guitarist born in Colorado and currently living and working in Southern California. Drawn to sounds that are inherently physical, Nicholas strives to create music that engages listeners intellectually and emotionally by appealing to their inner physicality. His compositions make use of noise, delicacy, drama, fantasy, brutality, and lyricism to create a diverse sonic expe- rience. As a guitarist, Nicholas strives to further the already vast sound world of the electric guitar by experimenting with microtonal tunings, preparation, bows, and beer cans. He has received commissions from Carnegie Hall, USINESONORE Festival, The La Jolla Symphony, Palimpsest, and several soloists. His music has been performed in Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, The Netherlands, Iceland, Japan, and throughout North America. As a conductor, Nicholas has performed with The La Jolla Symphony Orchestra, Red Fish Blue Fish, Ensemble Ascolta, The Darmstadt Preisträgerensemble, Noise, The University of Northern Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and many ad-hoc ensembles in the United States and Germany. He holds a Ph.D. in composition from UC San Diego where he studied with Roger Reynolds. Deyoe’s compositions and improvisations can be heard on Populist, Spektral, khalija and Eh? Records.
Dustin Donahue is a percussionist dedicated to chamber music and contemporary music performance. He has performed with many of the country's top presenters of chamber music, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, the Ojai Music Festival, and La Jolla Summerfest. He performs across the United States with groups such as the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, the Partch Ensemble, and ECHOI. He appears on recordings for Decca, Mode, Naxos, New Focus, Populist, and Stradivarius Records. He also co-directs Wasteland, an organization dedicated to fostering experimental chamber music in southern California. As a soloist, he has been featured at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Carlsbad Music Festival, the John Cage Centennial Festival in Washington, D.C., Mengi in Reykjavík, Iceland, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. As an advocate for contemporary music, he frequently develops new work with living composers, such as recent collaborations with Carolyn Chen, Nicholas Deyoe, Laure Hiendl, Tania Lanfer, Bruno Ruviaro, Steven Takasugi, and Yiheng Yvonne Wu. Currently, he is Assistant Professor of Percussion at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He holds a DMA from the University of California – San Diego where he studied with Steven Schick and a BM from the University of Wisconsin where he studied with Anthony Di Sanza.
M A Harms
M A Harms is a Los Angeles-based composer, performer, and instrument builder who explores the intersections between grief, gender, and sex through a combination of text and sound. Their practice centers performance art and interdisciplinarity, imagining and creating sound using sculptural installations, found objects, electronics, mannequins, and placing equal significance on the visual experience of their work. M navigates literal stories and personal life events via sound practice, obscuring them to the point that they begin to bridge the gap between individual and “universal” experiences.
Michael Matsuno
Todd Moellenberg
Todd Moellenberg is a pianist and artist based in Los Angeles. He specializes in both classical and contemporary repertoire, and has been featured as a soloist with Wild Up, Monday Evening Concerts, and the Palimpsest Ensemble. Todd has worked closely with composers Czaya Chernowin, Roger Reynolds, Yiheng Yvonne Wu, Rand Steiger, Thomas Meadwocroft and Xavier Beteta, with recordings released on Deutsche Grammophon, Sideband, and Petrichor. His creative work encompasses composition, video, poetry, and performance art, and has been featured by Conrad Tao, Ryan Nestor, Autoduplicity, Music for Your Inbox, Meaningless Work, and artist Mariah Garnett. Todd received his DMA in contemporary piano performance at UC San Diego, under the mentorship of Aleck Karis. His dissertation demonstrates how the work of Maurice Ravel and Jean Barraqué can generate poetic forms and structures for durational performance. Todd is currently the piano instructor at UC Riverside.